Column: Right-to-work law is severe but temporary

By David Hecker

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Many working people are still stunned by the speed with which so-called “right-to-work” was rammed through the Legislature and by the fact that the governor swiftly signed it into law after repeatedly insisting that it wasn’t on his “agenda.” Michigan educators were disgusted, but they were hardly surprised. They remembered how Gov. Rick Snyder claimed to support public education but cut $1 billion from our schools to give tax cuts to corporate CEOs in his first budget. There was no reason to believe that he would actually stand up for workers’ collective bargaining rights.

When teachers or other workers democratically choose to form a union, everybody shares in the benefits of the contract. In fact, unions have a legal obligation to represent everyone equally under a collective bargaining agreement; therefore, everyone should pay their fair share. Right-to-work allows some people to opt-out of contributing towards that representation and the benefits that they receive. That’s like saying we should have paved roads and cops on the street, but can refuse to pay our taxes. This option to opt-out is designed to weaken the voice of workers on the job, creating divisions that can harm productivity and morale.

In the weeks since the law passed, many thoughtful employers across the state have negotiated contracts with workers that maintain a fair-share arrangement. Right-to-work was not given immediate effect specifically to allow such negotiations to happen. Republicans in Lansing, showing that they do not actually believe in local control, persist in chastising and threatening employers that have behaved in a completely legal manner and negotiated contracts that they feel are in the best interests of their institutions and communities.

RTW is now in effect. It is the latest and perhaps most blatant attack on working families perpetrated by this administration. For teachers and other education professionals, this goes beyond economics. A weaker voice on the job lessens our ability to advocate for students by negotiating for supplies, training materials and smaller class sizes. As with previous attacks over the course of the past two years, workers will not take this setback quietly.

There are a number of paths that could be pursued to restore full collective bargaining rights in our state. Because this law was adopted by bad political actors, we will certainly organize around the 2014 elections and the promise of new leaders and new legislation. Recent polls show that Snyder’s approval ratings have plummeted after signing right-to-work, and that justifiable anger is likely to linger.

Fortunately, there is a chance that the courts will invalidate Michigan right-to-work laws even before the next election. While rushing bills through during the lame duck session, legislators showed total disregard for our state’s Open Meetings Act. The way that right-to-work was passed without public comment while citizens, including journalists, were locked out of our Capitol was unprecedented and illegal. A second lawsuit challenges whether the legislation is even constitutional, questions that could have been asked if the Republicans in the Legislature had lived up to our democratic process.

Right-to-work is another serious wrong to be redressed, but it is a temporary setback. That sense of shock that working families experienced in December is coalescing into renewed solidarity.

Today, right-to-work is the law in Michigan, but ordinary people will rally and reorganize relentlessly until their collective bargaining rights are fully reinstated.

David Hecker is president of the American Federation of Teachers Michigan that represents 35,000 teachers, support staff, higher education faculty, lecturers, administrators and graduate employees across the state.